The present exemplary embodiment relates to image processing systems, such as copiers and printers. It finds particular application in conjunction with print systems having multiple feeding and finishing modules and will be described with particular reference thereto. However, it is to be appreciated that the present exemplary embodiment is also amenable to other like applications.
In the early days of copiers and printers, media, typically paper, were fed to a tray where the operator took them and performed manual finishing operations. These manual operations ranged from simple collation and stapling to more sophisticated operations such as folding and inserting in an envelope for mailing. Later products incorporated finishing functionality within the print engine to relieve the operator of these manual finishing functions. Finishing operations included collation, stapling and in more recent products, binding. The same revolution has also occurred in feeding applications. Operators typically placed cut sheet paper or other media in feeding devices. Now, there are large roll feeders which eliminate the need for cut sheet media.
However, these reproduction machines were monolithic. That is, the feeding and finishing devices were packaged with the marking engine into a single device. This gave the customer an integrated solution and limited what had to be controlled in terms of hardware and software. The problem with this approach was that if a customer wanted additional feeding and finishing devices, there was no way to meet these needs. Customers wanted to be able to configure the feeding and finishing devices connected to the other devices. An early solution to the problem with the monolithic devices was the Document Finishing Architecture (or DFA) developed by Xerox Corporation, Stamford, Conn. It was called this because when this interface was conceived, it was not envisioned that it would be used for feeding devices. As it turns out, a version of this interface was used for several feeding devices. DFA is a non-integrated solution. In other words, it is not integrated with the base system with respect to electrical and software control. The initial implementation of DFA did nothing more than connect a single wire to the jam signal of the base machine. When there was a jam in the DFA module, it would assert the jam signal to keep the base engine from continuing to feed sheets into the DFA device. Because the implementation was not integrated, when there was a jam in the DFA device, it was up to the operator to determine how and where to restart the job so that the desired output was achieved. DFA evolved slightly since the initial implementation. It was never integrated with the base model of the machines.
The limitations of DFA were soon realized, however, as customers wanted an integrated solution for document processing. The problem was that each customer wanted a different solution. Manufacturers could not design a custom solution for each customer, as that would not have been cost effective. Under these circumstances, a new standard for attaching feeding and finishing devices to print engines was developed by Xerox Corporation. The standard was used by Xerox for developing new document processing products and by third party vendors for developing feeding and finishing modules. The third party feeding and finishing modules were compatible with Xerox's print engines and other document processing products.
Aspects of the standard are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,629,775 to Platteter et al, entitled “System Architecture for Attaching and Controlling Multiple Feeding and Finishing Devices to a Reproduction Machine.” The basic modular architecture (i.e., multiple feeding and finishing architecture (MFFA)) of an electronic image processing apparatus in Platteter '775 inherently allowed the duplication of effort for developing feeding and finishing capabilities to be avoided by permitting and encouraging third party vendors to develop or adapt feeding and finishing devices that were compatible with standard print engines. More specifically, Platteter '775 permitted the document feeding and/or finishing modules to be interconnected with the print engine in a networked environment and organized in a sequence that meets the customer's needs for a fully automated job. This permitted finishing or feeder devices to be attached in any order that the operator decided was appropriate for the application.
MFFA generally includes a marking machine, a source of media, a controller, and a plurality of resources, wherein each of the resources includes an associated processor for storing data related to the operational timing of the associated resource. A bus interconnects the processors to the controller for directing the operation of the image processing apparatus to provide images on the copy sheets and the controller includes circuitry for interrogating each of the processors for the operational timing data and logic for responding to the operational timing data of each of the processors for dynamically configuring the controller to operate in accordance with the operational timing of the processors.
MFFA represents a complete change of direction. With MFFA, engineers need to design for mechanical and electrical connectivity and design the software such that the system can comprehend all types of feeding and finishing modules, even those that have not been developed yet. MFFA is a fully modular architecture that allows customers to select numerous feeding and finishing devices, connect them up, and produce a fully completed document. The modules are customer configurable in that they can reconfigure the modules to get the desired feeding and finishing combinations they desire.
To avoid the duplication of efforts for developing feeding and finishing capabilities and to allow third party vendors to develop or adapt feeding and finishing devices to standard print engines, the new system was developed. The system allows users to organize the document feeding and/or finishing accessories in the sequence that meets the needs for a fully automated job and to be able to attach finishing or feeder devices in any order that the operator decides is appropriate for the application.
However, there are customers that have DFA-compatible devices that were used on the earlier systems. These are expensive devices that the customers want to add to their new MFFA system. Second, there are feeding and finishing devices out there that are DFA-compatible that manufacturers do not currently make an equivalent MFFA device for. Thus, there is a need for an interface converter for print systems that will allow DFA or DFA-compatible devices to be connected to MFFA systems. Such a DFA device would only need to be pseudo-integrated, i.e., the MFFA system would know that there is a DFA device out there and would display a generic icon on the user interface showing the position of the device in the feeding or finishing chain. Also, when the DFA device has a jam, the MFFA system software would instruct all the devices upstream of that module to do an orderly shutdown. However, it would not be necessary for the MFFA system to know the internal architecture of the DFA device(s) and therefore not know what sheets and/or sets need to be remade. That is, the operator would still responsible for guaranteeing the integrity of the sheets/sets that are in the DFA device. Thus, the interface converter would allow DFA devices to attach to the new MFFA system.